Semifinals set for ITA Division III National Men's Team Indoor Championship

Top Three Seeds Advance, Each Looking to Return to the ITA Team Indoor Finals

FREDERICKSBURG, VA - The top three seeds all advanced as Emory, UC-Santa Cruz and Washington-St. Louis each enter the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division III National Men's Team Indoor Championship for the second-straight year.The University of Mary Washington is playing host for the first time during the 11th annual men's event at the University Tennis Center in Fredericksburg, Virginia, February 18-20.

ITA Division III National Men's Team Indoor Championship: First Round

#1 Emory 8, #8 Mary Washington 1

#5 Carnegie Mellon 5, #4 Cal Lutheran 4

#3 Washington University 8, #6 NC Wesleyan 1

#2 UC-Santa Cruz 6, #7 Trinity 3

More on the Semifinalists

#1 EMORY:By posting an 8-1 win over tournament host Mary Washington, the Eagles boosted their spring record to 5-1. The seasoned veterans from Emory quickly found themselves holding a 3-0 lead after sweeping the doubles portion of the match. The Georgian giants notched straight-set wins in five of the six singles matches led by Dillon Pottish's 6-4, 6-0, at No. 1 and perennial national contender Chris Goodwin hammering out a 6-4, 6-2 decision at the No. 2 slot. The top seeds look to continue their dominance tomorrow by facing Carnegie Mellon, who recorded the only upset of opening round play.

#2 UC-SANTA CRUZ:The fifth-ranked UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs beat the No. 10 Trinity Tigers men 6-3, as UCSC looks to continue their title defense. Trinity (0-4) put up a noble fight in managing to not only record a major upset over the perennial title contenders from the west, but also looking for their first victory on the year. Cruz took two of three doubles matches with the Tigers posting a shutout win at No. 2 doubles. The Slugs also took four of six singles matches with the clincher coming at No. 3 singles asParker Larsen was able to outlast De la Fuente 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

#3 WASHINGTON (MO):A doubles sweep propelled third-seeded Washington-St. Louis to an 8-1 victory over sixth-seeded North Carolina Wesleyanin the opening-round quarterfinals. The Bears swept doubles play for the second consecutive match and dropped just three games in winning the top two spots.SeniorsIsaac SteinandMax Woods started the sweep withan 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles. In singles, Adam Putterman led the charge, by making quick work of Alexy Rumyantsev at No. 3 singles, 6-2, 6-0, as Washington University pushed the advantage to 4-0. Woods followed with a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 victory over Antti Saari at No. 2 singles to clinch the match for the Bears. The win pushes Washington U. to 3-1 against ranked teams this season and marks the fourth straight year the Bears have advanced to the semifinals of the annual event.

#5 CARNEGIE MELLON:Trailing 2-0 early the Cal Lutheran doubles pairing of Nick Ballou and Ray Worley upset the No. 7 team in the nation of Bobby MacTaggart and Duke Miller by an 8-6 margin. All three of Cal Lutheran's singles victories came in straight sets with the top two seeds winning in convincing fashion led by third-ranked Ballou, who took down No. 37 Alex Nemerov 6-1, 6-2. The Kingsmen's early singles success put them up 4-2 with only one more point needed for the win. With Carnegie's back against the wall, the Tartans all claimed the first set of their respective matches, eventually leading to two more points for CMU, knotting the match at 4-4. The match would be decided at No. 3 singles between CMU's Duke Miller and CLU's Ray Worley. The 38th-ranked Worley led the third set 5-4 before Miller rallied to win the final three games and earn the match-deciding point.

Saturday's schedule has the losers of Friday's matches playing in consolation matches beginning at 8:00 a.m., while the winners will play in semifinal matches beginning at 2:00 p.m. The final Consolation rounds are slated to start at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. The third place and championship matches will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.* All times are ET

Admission to the event is free of charge and the public is welcome.For complete results and event information, visitwww.itatennis.com.